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Empire State Building

We want the Hong Kong
experience,” he said, referring to the often-dramatic lighting seen on
buildings there, but “we won’t be showing TV shows on the side of the
building.

When redesigning the exterior lighting for one of the world’s best-known buildings, how should you proceed?

With much greater energy efficiency, a significantly wider palette of more intense colors and a lot of panache.

That is the tack that
the owners of the Empire State Building are taking with their decision
to replace its 400 existing standard lamps — technology that was
introduced to coincide with the 1976 bicentennial — with 1,200 newly
designed fixtures using the latest LED technology.

Because the colors of
each LED fixture can be manipulated independently and instantaneously
via computer, lighting effects — including rainbows, ripples,
cross-fades and burst effects — can be created that appear to be
animated, continuously moving and changing.

“We’ll have some real
fun with our ability to manipulate the new lights,” said Anthony E.
Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, an affiliate of the entity that
owns the building. The announcement on the new lighting is scheduled to
be made on Wednesday.

Of course, changing
the lighting on such a prominent building is fraught with not only
financial considerations, but also ethical responsibilities. Just
because technology creates the ability to stage rock-concert-like light
shows on the walls of one of the world’s most recognizable buildings
does not mean that is what should be done.

Fear not, Mr. Malkin said.

“We want the Hong Kong
experience,” he said, referring to the often-dramatic lighting seen on
buildings there, but “we won’t be showing TV shows on the side of the
building.”